Christmas through to New Year Fun

Sydney Travel Blog

On Christmas eve I went along for a 12 pubs of christmas bar crawl around sydney. I went with John and Mo and was the only english person in a group of irish people. It started off early down in the harbour and it was exceptionally hot even though the sun was low in the sky, but it provided a nice back drop along with the harbour bridge and opera house. The night carried on with some very nice pubs in The Rocks region of sydney that were quite posh but very quiet and some were even closed for the holidays which seemed a little strange. I pace myself not wanting a hangover christmas day.

We bumped in to lots of people we knew from new zealand rather randomly and the pub crawl disintergrated and we went our own way. A number of the popular backpacker bars were rammed and had queues round the block but we got in somewhere and danced in christmas day.

I headed home at a reasonable time in preparation for christmas day.

On Christmas day the original plan was to head down to Bondi beach for a BBQ but apparently the police crack down on you a lot for drinking on Bondi due to past riots there. We decided to head to Coogee beach which is the next beach along and was very busy. After alot of messing about we got there and everyone was starving to the BBQ went on and a classic christmas dinner of cheap sausages and and burgers in bread was served up with a bit of burnt because of the cheap BBQ. It was all good fun although it was cloudy and a little nippy so we had to pile layers on and there was no christmas day dip in the sea.

posing by the opera house

Played a bit of frisbee which annoyed a few and dashed out in to the sun and took pictures when it appeared for a bit. As the dark drew in boredom also did and coldness really sucked any fun out of it so everyone decided to head home as everywhere was closed.

Boxing day woke up quite early and headed down to the harbour and saw the boats go past in the annual Sydney to Hobart race which was quite nice. Then watched some street performers who were very average. The weather on boxing day was much nicer than christmas day and me, john and mo took in a nice lunch in the roof top gardens of a pub over looking the harbour and then went to the botanic gardens for a bit to relax in the sun.

Me singing my little heart out

Apparently boxing day or St Stephens day as it is known in Ireland is a massive day over there for them because the pubs are all closed on christmas day in Ireland and by boxing day they are all bursting for a pint, as one irishman explained it to me. Had quite a good night although places closed early for some reason.

At the weekend some great fun was had at a special Karaoke bar. There is a large asian population in Australia as you would expect with its proximatey to asia, and with them they brought this brilliant idea. It is full of rooms that you and your friends get, bring your own alcohol and enjoy singing karaoke, something I am sure an L. Estruch and P. Wood would enjoy to no end. At the end of our session, that we had extended we decided we hadnt had enough so booked in another session for the following day, wanting to belt out other all time classics and boy band rubbish.

NYE during the day

The next day it did not seem like such a good idea but it went ahead and we ended up extending our stay again we had so much fun, it seems I am turning in to my mother, although I made sure to avoid singing Midnight at the Oasis.

Every year I see the fireworks at Sydney on the news on new years eve as they talk about countries already in 2008 and decided I wanted to see them. Sydney puts on a good show and secures off the best viewing areas. However these areas are closed when they are full and all sorts of ludicrous stories were told to me about getting there at 8am and some people are already queuing the night before. I refused to wake up at that time and compromised at an 11am meet by the opera house. I got there and that plan changed because apparently you cant see the opera house from the opera house, which was the most ridiculous reasoning I had ever heard and angered me, especially the 45 minutes walk in the direction I had just come from.

Sun Set

I was further angered and moaning as I do when I turned up at the front of the queue and walked to the back. The queue was in the region of 1-2km to get in, over 12 hours before new years eve.

We got in, but now with any of our own alcohol which had been banned and found ourself a cramped space which would be slowly encroached upon as more and more people turned up and at one point a family even sat on top of our towels. It was a very hot day probably hitting aroudn 30oC with shade being minimal everyone was following it all day and desperarely downing water but not fast enough. I did enjoy a delicious calipo by the opera house though, raspberry and pineapple, not two flavours you would think mixed, but they did. I reckon this is as closed as I will get to going to a festival and I disliked being rammed in and did not even have to put up with dirty hippies who havent washed for an entire weekend.

NYE Fireworks

Got a serious tan on my arms because I thought I was too big for suncream but just avoided burn. The rush to get in so early prooved to be misplaced as people were still getting in mid afternoon.

At 9 were the family fireworks which were good in themselves, fired off of barges all along the harbour. The place cleared out a bit as children went to bed and others went to parties. Had a few beers, but the only stuff they served was a weak VB that tasted very fruity. At 11 headed to find a spot to watch the fireworks but it was already a rush for a spot that was not obscured by trees. Pushed my way to a good spot much like the days of getting in to the canteen at Nower Hill. Started to need the toilet because of the beer but was distracted by a french girl fainting at 11:50 right next to us and then a sweedish girl fainting (or passing out through drink) at 11:58.

Me enjoying the Calipo Ice Cream

Helped them and then enjoyed the fireworks. They were great with them going off of the bridge, off barges and even off all the tall buildings in the city. Very enjoyable and all in all a very fun day. Managed to nip on a bus shortly after and got home a lot quicker than I thought despite the bustling crowds after a very long day